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June 2009

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Knit This!


My Husband - The Writer

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My Brother - The Artist

  • Gregorio Studio

My Cousin - The Rockstar!

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Thanks for Stopping By

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How To: Compost Coleslaw aka Chickslaw

What you will need:

  • Eager helper or helpers
  • various kitchen scraps (in this case we were making Coleslaw)
  • extra bowl 
  • beautiful weather 
  • willing "recipe" taste testers who also don't mind being chased while dining

Chickencompost1

Chickencompost6

Chickencompost5

FO: My First Shirt

Have weeks gone by? Oh my. You know, I was just reading back in my own archives looking for a particular post for a friend and realized that I used to give a lot more to this blog. Granted we have been busy over the past two years having babies, starting businesses, moving etc. but there is something so nice about taking the time to document all that is occurring in life in a meaningful way. That being said as bloggers we also have to find that balance between enjoying our blogs on our own terms and "thinking in blog" which is when I begin to resent this medium a bit. I have no point right now other than to say I am feeling achy for my blog again which I guess is a good thing. I want to return more to this space and share because I do have a lot to share. 

Anyhow, look what I whipped up! 

Firstshirt2

I am pleased as punch with this shirt for a few reasons. First because I really am a new, new sewer with a crappy machine that doesn't usually agree with my vision of straight lines and an enjoyable process. This shirt just came out right. The whole thing was smooth. The Crafty Goddess was looking down on me. The second reason I am pleased is because I did this all on my own. No pattern, no instruction, nothing. I was certainly inspired by other peoples work though. In particular this shirt by Lucy and Norman. Her's is a modified version of a dress from Weekend Sewing. The third reason I am happy with this shirt is because it fits me great! I needed something to hide my post baby belly and hopefully draw a bit of attention to my *ahem* (temporary) assets further north. I'm not usually a busty gal so I enjoy being a little more well endowed while nursing. 

Firstshirt4

There's nothing like a crafty success when it feels like it's impossible to get anything done with three little ones to really make a girl happy. I plan on making more of these as part of my "summer staple" wardrobe. What I love most about this shirt is I feel kind of like I am wearing an apron and I *love* wearing aprons so much so that I feel a bit naked without one. Unfortunately I also feel like a nut job wearing my apron downtown (which I have done by accident of course) and this way I can have the best of both worlds. Yahoo! 

Since we're on the topic of sewing. A friend brought by her copy of Weekend Sewing for me to paw through. The projects look amazing but I am leary of getting my own copy because it seems as if there is a lot of errata. I think I may wait for the second edition. Any thoughts?

A few of my favorite things...

Vaughn1


Vaughnfeet

Vaughnsleep

Vaughn3

I can NOT believe two weeks have passed since Vaughn arrived! I think one of the most unspoken changes of parenthood is the rate at which time passes. It speeds in the cruelest of ways and seems to do so even more with each child. Thank you all so much for your warm welcome for Vaughn and the sweet wishes you sent to our entire brood. We're settling in to our family of 5! (5 wow!) and getting as much rest as we possibly can, which is to say - not much. But that's all good. We're in a delightful milky sleep deprived nestled-in sort of state and soaking in the moments as best as we can. All that while trying to move forward on our Big Chicken Plans. 

My fingers and brain are itching to make something, many things. Like maybe something like this or this or this. Or maybe some of these. But for now it's all about nursing and snuggling. My hands are busy doing that. 

Introducing...

Baby Vaughn! 


Born April 30th at 2PM after a gentle and peaceful labor and family birth (everyone was there including my mother and in-laws). 6lbs 12ozs, 19 inches long. My little Spring Bean. We are all doing well. I am in a milky, new mommy state of glorious sleepy joy. Jorn and Simonne are fully enamored with their new little brother. Pure bliss. 
Fb17

Fb02

Fb09


Bumpy Roads

Well, old wives tales say that a good drive up an old bumpy road can induce labor. Not for me. But it was still a beautiful drive and then a nice walk up behind our house. 


Familywalk

Familywalk2

Familywalk3

Familywalk4

Well...

We're still waiting! I mean I am only two days past my due date but we are all just so excited to meet the next little Spidey :) Here's a picture we took today...


Belly

You might remember the one we took when I was pregnant with Simonne the last time during my  Simple Yet Effective Shawl "photo shoot"...

Bellysimonne

Same exact outfit. I guess this is my pregnancy uniform once the mercury starts to rise ;) In fact, I have a picture when I was pregnant with Jorn wearing the same exact skirt. I'll have to dig it out and scan it in. 

Anyhow, we're in that holding pattern where we answer a slew of "where's the baby" calls and can't go too far from the house. I have managed to knit one sock over the past few days and it might just be the ugliest sock ever knit. I'm only sharing this sock because apparently I knit socks right before babies are born here too otherwise I wouldn't want to inflict this sock yarn ugliness on your knitterly eyes. Maybe I have to finish the pair before Wee Spidey 3 will make it's arrival! Better get back to knitting...

Uglysock3

Waiting

Just days away from my due date now and oh, is the Waiting hard. We are keeping as busy as we can.


Enjoying each other...

Jornmomma

Feeding mealy melons to the chickens...

Mealymelon

Taking long walks to help move things along...

Walk

Playing tourist in our hometown with my mom who is up and Waiting with us...

Tourist

Momument

And looking at really great houses for sale in our neighborhood trying to convince family that they do indeed want to live in Vermont just down the road from us and that Vermont winters really aren't that bad. This has nothing to do with babysitting I promise ;) C'mon wouldn't you want to buy this house? 

Buythishouse

So, we're having fun and still trying to think of names for our baby. We have sort-of a short list but not really for this stage in my pregnancy. So the baby name book is packed in my bag ready to go along with us when the time comes. Stay tuned!

Happy Spring/Easter/Renewal/Chocolate Bunny/Jelly Bean Day!

Coloredeggs


Hope everyone has had a lovely holiday filled with color and sweetness. 

This was our first Easter dying our own chickens eggs which are already naturally beautiful. Our Araucanas lay blueish green eggs and our Golden Laced lays beautiful pinkish brown (we lost two more chickens this week-awful-we're down to three from our original eight). So we over dyed them with turmeric and then another batch with cabbage as well as left some just the way they were. Boy, what a process, interesting but smelly. I mean really smelly. The picture above is after the dye and below is the "before". All I could think about the whole time we were dying them was how much I would love to try this with yarn. 

Eggs

If any one is interested I am happy to share the natural dye process but right now the candy in the house is dwindling fast and I don't want to miss out! Enjoy your beautiful day!

Just a Moment

Meandmone


Just today and just perfect. 

(Sewing) FO: Recycled Bathmat

Oh, busy-busy here! I am overwhelmed with nesting instincts and have cleaned our entire house and car from top to bottom, baseboards, moldings, spiderwebs, etc. Spring babies are such an experience since these are motivations I probably would have been having anyway for this time of year but coupled with pregnancy turn me into a cleaning super woman I have never met before. Silly, just silly. 


I had been wanting to make one of Meg's Recycled Bathmats for a while now. So the other night I burned the midnight (sewing machine) oil and whipped one of these up.

Bathmat3

Armed with my super *ahem* crappy sewing machine, vintage fabric from my stash, an old towel and a tile from our bathroom wall I set to work.  Meg cut her squares tiny, 2 1/2", but I knew myself and my machine (both of which can not sew in a straight line) better than that. So I found an extra tile from our bathroom wall which measured 4" square and used that to cut out my squares hoping to increase my chances that things would line up and not be so incredibly wonky.  It pretty much worked out and I am quite happy with the results. 

Bathmat

I am really into grellow or gray and yellow together. As you can see our bathroom has varying gray tiles and while I like the simplicity I Iove how yellow just makes it all pop out. For practical reasons, because I had one on hand, I used a light gray towel for the back and while I'll share a picture here for you let's just not discuss how truly awful my sewing is. I "quilted" the top and towel together by stitching in the ditches of each square. Luckily this side is only up when in use and then the mat goes right back to it's much more lovely side to dry on the tub.

Bathmat2

I really enjoyed this project and already have plans to make another.  Thanks Meg for sharing your great tutorial! 

In other news, my dad is up here visiting for a few days and to help us with our next really big project. He's a retired architect and he's helping us draw up blueprints for a coop that will house 2,000 chickens! That's right, 2,000, and that's just to start. It's a very long story for another time but Greg and I have decided to start our own organic egg farm on our land here in VT. It is both extremely exciting and extremely terrifying at the same time. Needless to say we have been busy with planning, research, grant/loan applications and figuring out if we are capable of running a farm that size.  We have big plans to not only raise our hens organically and free range but to incorporate as much green energy and ecologically progressive techniques as possible. The dream is big and lofty and idealistic, some may even call it naive, but it is a dream and if there is one thing that Greg and I have always agreed on in our marriage it's that we must live our dreams. Crisis has unfortunately brought us to this place in the form of job loss but I have to say that we couldn't be happier in many ways. It is so easy allow time to pass and to postpone your ideas while pursuing safer endeavors. When Greg lost his job we realized quickly that we no longer wanted to be reliant on other people, companies, agencies, etc. especially in a job market where there are no longer any guarantees anyway. If we are going to take a risk, it will be our own and Greg and I are no strangers to risk taking :) There have been many in our years together. I have so much to share but it will have to happen as things progress for us.

Of course we are all anticipating our next new little one. My due date is the 24th of this month but I really feel as if this baby will arrive before then. My dad looked at me today and said, "You are ready. You look really ready." and he knows having had 6 babies of his own! I agree but my midwife said it's just that I am pregnant with my third and everything just feels "ready" sooner. Only time will tell.  I just can't wait! Hang in there with me, will ya? :)